When I zentangle, I see every single wiggly line that I meant to be straight, every pen stroke that is out of place, every swirl that squashed more than it curled, …and so much more!
It really bothered me for a while. I KNEW what I wanted this tangle to look like, but I could see every ‘mistake’, and I thought the mistakes detracted from what I was doing.
Very frustrating, right?
Initially, it was almost as frustrating that no one else could see what I call mistakes. They would see the whole piece. I could even tell them what I thought I did wrong… they didn’t see it. HOW could they not see the imperfections!?
I found out that they were not just being polite, or trying not to hurt my feelings. They really don’t see the problems I see. REALLY!
All of the ‘mistakes’ in my drawing make it uniquely mine, a snapshot of a moment in my artistic journey, and people appreciate that. REALLY!
I learned that there’s nothing mistaken about something created from my heart and my mind, even if it’s not exactly what I thought I wanted it to be. There’s something a bit messy about creation of art, and through my art, the creation of myself, too.
Yes, we know how we’d prefer for our creations to look, and we always try to improve. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with our imperfect art. Every drawing, tangle, doodle is a step on our creative journey, an adventure we’ll never ‘finish’.
It’s about process… not perfection.
Sharing the process and the imperfect products of our efforts with the world isn’t meant to be a scary or critical process. It’s absolutely beautiful!
Creating is magical, even miraculous. Where there was a blank page, now there’s wiggly expression of an inner self, misplaced energy replaced into a new space, swirls of a soul un-squishing… and so much more! ♥
